Technology and healthcare today

When was the last time a medical professional told you to stop Googling to come up with a self-diagnosis of your latest ailment? From ZocDoc and WebMD to iTriage, consumers are empowering themselves to be better consumers of healthcare.

The reality of medical care today is that we must be our own advocates, and whether we are going online to compare symptoms, find a doctor, discern health insurance coverage, or create an advance directive, there are a lot of online and technological resources out there to learn from.

Today, doctors are relying on mobile apps to monitor and remain updated on their patients’ conditions, and to have an easy, quick way to access and reference medical information. According to a Wall Street Journal piece this week by Jeanne Whalen,

“Doctors say many of the apps are useful time savers, and have the potential to make health care more efficient by speeding diagnosis, improving patient monitoring and reducing unnecessary visits to a physician or hospital.”

It’s not just doctors who can benefit from medical and health-related technology. We all can. The opportunity to store and share our medical wishes via digital, online health directives means that we, whether we’re healthy or ailing, young or old, can be clear about our medical preferences. Doctors are relying on health technologies more and more each day; we should be doing the same.